1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and an ultrasonic diagnostic method for generating image data of a C-mode image of an examination-target portion based on volume data generated by performing an ultrasonic scan on an object and displaying the C-mode image.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for realizing an immersion method, which is developed mainly for an ultrasonic examination of breasts held in a group medical examination, are known. In the immersion method, an object such as one of or both of breasts of a patient are immersed in water contained in a special-purpose tank, 2D (sectional) data is generated while moving an ultrasonic probe facing the patient through the tank, and 3D data is also generated based on a plurality of 2D data. Since the use of a mechanical moving stage for vertical movement of the ultrasonic probe permits automatic scans and an existence of water contained in the tank between the probe and the breasts allows images of the entire breasts to be imaged, the immersion method is suitable for a group medical examination system.
To display images of breasts as thoroughly as possible with a minimum number of images particularly in a group medical examination, a C-mode display for displaying C-mode images is performed in ultrasonic diagnosis of breasts.
Breasts are located on a body surface side of a curved thorax. Conventional C-mode display involves disadvantages such as diagnosis of an edge part of a breast in a C-mode image is difficult since an image of the sternum mainly appears and an image of the breast hardly appears on one C-mode image including a part of a breast near a sternum.